Nonstop flight route between Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shimla Airport (SLV), Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,110 miles (or 6,615 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Shimla Airport and RAF Fairford, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Shimla Airport and RAF Fairford. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Shimla Airport (SLV):

• The furthest airport from Shimla Airport (SLV) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,961 miles (19,249 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Shimla Airport (SLV) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Shimla Airport (SLV) is Chandigarh Airport (IXC), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) SSW of SLV.
• Because of Shimla Airport's high elevation of 5,072 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at SLV. Combined with a high temperature, this could make SLV a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Shimla Airport", another name for SLV is "शिमला हवाई अड्डा".

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.